Life in the Middle Ages was a colossal religious game. The dominant value was salvation in a life hereafter. Emphasizing that "to divorce medieval hysteria from its time and place is not possible," Gallinek observes: It was the aim of man to leave all things worldly as far behind as possible, and already during lifetime to approach the kingdom of heaven. The aim was salvation. Salvation was the Christian master motive.—The ideal man of the Middle Ages was free of all fear because he was sure of salvation, certain of eternal bliss. He was the saint, and the saint, not the knight nor the troubadour, is the veritable ideal of the Middle Ages.